Nottingham, Corcoran open preseason football practice with new homegrown coaches

Two products of city neighborhoods and city schools have been appointed to head football coaching positions for city teams.

Nick Patterson is the new head coach at Nottingham High School, his alma mater. Tyrone Fisher is the new head football coach at Corcoran.

Both open preseason practice August 15 along with other area high school teams, yet its difficult to imagine two coaches with more enthusiasm than Patterson and Fisher in their new assignments.

Patterson, the former head coach at Tully, replaces Paul Sealy, who resigned. Fisher replaces Tim Schmidt at Corcoran. Schmidt will continue to coach the Corcoran basketball team.

They are among a handful of schools with new head football coaches this season including Solvay (Matt Shutts), Tully (Brad Keysor) and Oswego (John Finch).

Patterson is a 1995 graduate of Nottingham where he played running back linebacker. He hopes his deep connection to the school and football program translates to a roster of about 35 players hoping to play for the Bulldogs this season.

Patterson said the most immediate difference is the new football facility and turf field that opened at Nottingham.

“Tell me about it,” Patterson said. “I was telling the kids, you don’t know how privileged you are. We had a grass field with gravel track. You are blessed to have a state of the art facility. Take advantage of it.

“The kids are excited. A lot of them really bought into the system knowing I’ve been there, done that. I’ve walked down Meadowbrook Drive in the summer sun (to practice). Some kids say, you don’t know what we’re going through. Now it’s a lot easier to say, Coach did play here.”

Fisher is a 1993 graduate of Bishop Ludden, but he grew up on the Westside, is a product of the Hamilton Street Boys Club and attended Fowler High School for some grades. After playing at Ithaca College, he served as an assistant coach at Fowler and later as a graduate assistant at Syracuse. Last season, he was an assistant at Corcoran and knows the personnel and the landscape. He said the Cougars should have about 40 players for camp.

Fisher said he will tweak the systems in place. He said the Cougars will run a 4-3 base defense but will borrow from the attacking schemes of Syracuse defensive coordinator Scott Shafer. He said the offense will operate out of the I and play to the team’s strengths, running the ball.

“I’m just honored to be able to get an opportunity to take over at Corcoran,” said Fisher. “(Former) Coach (Leo) Cosgrove and Coach Schmidt have built the program up to what it is today. Trust me, I’m going to learn a lot from them, ask them questions all the time. This is a great program and I want to put my own little things on it. I don’t want to change too much. It’s a great program already and I’m honored and bless to have this opportunity.”